A study of more than 1,500 Italian olive oils has found that genetics outweighs temperature in determining fatty acid composition, Olive Oil Times reported. Published in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, the research showed that amid climate change, the olive tree’s genotype was a stronger determinant of its fatty acid profile than temperature.
Despite more than four decades of changing temperatures in Italy, researchers found only modest shifts in the fatty acid profile of olive oil, the 22 September report said. “The first factor is genotype. Each cultivar starts from a certain fatty acid profile, which is then modified by climatic, agronomic and other variables,” Giovanni Spinelli, researcher and study co-author of the study, was quoted as saying.
